Postal Services in India

The Postal Services Board, the apex management body of the Department, comprises the Chairman and three Members. The Members of the Board hold portfolios of Operations, Development and Personnel. The Joint Secretary and Financial Advisor to the Department is a permanent invitee to the Board. The Board is assisted by a senior staff officer of the Directorate as Secretary to the Board. Presently, Deputy Director General (FS) is assisting the Board in this capacity. Deputy Directors General, Directors and Assistant Directors General provide necessary support for the Board at Headquarters. The Postal Services Directorate is the Headquarters organization located at Dak Bhawan, New Delhi, to oversee the operations in the provision of postal services throughout the country.

For providing postal services, the whole country has been divided into 22 Postal Circles. These Circles manage the day-to-day functioning of the various Head Post Offices, Sub - Post Offices and Branch Post Offices, through their Regional and Divisional level arrangements.

Objectives

Department of Posts is committed to providing universal access to basic postal services in the country at affordable prices. Its objectives are to:

1.Ensure availability of basic postal services in all parts of the country, including tribal, hilly and remote areas.
2.Provide efficient reliable and economic service.
3.Provide value added services according to market requirements.
Modernize the services to handle the growing volume of work with efficiency and thereby enhance customer and employee satisfaction.
4.Be a forward looking organization, and
5.Generate more resources and improve financial performance

As per Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules, 1961, second Schedule, Rule 3, Distribution of Subjects among the Departments the Department Of Posts is responsible for

• Execution of works, including purchase of land debitable to the Capital Budget pertaining to the Department of Posts.

• Posts, including Post Office Savings Banks (Administration), Post Office Certificate (Administration), Post Office Life Insurance Fund (Administration), printing of public postage stamps/commemorative stamps including postal stationery, premium postal products and any agency function.

• International cooperation in matters connected with postal communications, including matters relating to all international bodies dealing with postal communications such as Universal Postal Union, Asia Pacific Postal Union (APU), Commonwealth Postal Union.

• Matters relating to introduction, development and maintenance of all services by the Post Office including those based on cable, radio and satellite communications channels:

1. Provided that these matters do not amount to broadcasting, narrow casting, cable and radio networking services and are also not governed by the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 and the rules made there under, and not exclusively allotted to any other Department.

2. Promotion of feasibility survey, research and development in the field of activities allotted to the Department.

3. Matters relating to administration of the Indian Post Office Act, 1898 and rules made there under as well as other laws or enactments having a bearing on postal activities, not specifically allotted to any other Department.

Network

India has the largest postal network in the world with 1,55,669 post offices of which 89% are in rural areas. At the time of independence, there were 23,344 post offices, which were primarily in the urban areas. Thus the network has registered a seven fold growth over the last five decades, the focus of this expansion being in the rural areas. On an average, a post office serves an area of 21.09 sq. Km. & population of 6,585. Through these offices it ensures daily delivery of day at the doorstep of every customer all over the country, collection of letters through letterboxes, and also sale of stamps and stationery through village postmen at the doorstep of customers in rural areas. Post offices in urban and rural areas provide a range of basic postal services to the customers, including banking and insurance services. Bill collection felicities are being extended through all post offices in urban areas, and identifying post offices in rural areas. Certain value added services are being provided in selected offices in urban areas.

Efforts are also being made to identify means of providing postal services through more cost effective measures. The Licensed Stamp Vendor Scheme, Licensed Postal Agents Scheme and the Panchayat Sanchar Sewa Yojana(PSSY) were initiatives that were taken up in this regard. So far 7,697 Panchayat Sanchar Sewa Kendras(PSSKs) have been opened, including 2,371 PSSKs under the 10th Plan. Since an assessment of these schemes indicates the need for restructuring them, no targets were given in 2004-05 for opening PSSKs.

Efforts are also underway to optimize the retailing capacity of the network. One major initiative taken up in the current year is the retailing of non-life insurance products through Post Offices. The Department has entered into an agreement with the Oriental Insurance Company to function as their Corporate Agent for marketing identified non-life products. This Scheme was launched on a pilot basis through select Post Offices in 2 districts each of 7 Circles. It is being gradually expanded, after providing the requisite training to other Circles.

Postal Services

Postal operations at the post office encompass the entire gamut of the basic postal services which interlaid include:

(i) Sale of stamps and stationery
(ii) Booking of registered articles
(iii) Booking of insured articles
(iv) Booking of value payable articles
(v) Remittance of money through money orders and postal orders
(vi) Booking of Parcels

Traditionally, these services were being provided at manually operated counters. Considering the vital need for providing the benefit of technology to the customers, the counter operations are now being progressively computerised to provide a greater range of service to the customer from a single window leading to services being more responsive, and error free.

Mail Operations

Mail processing, transmission and delivery are the core activities of the Department. Mail is collected from 0.60 Million letter boxes in the country. This is processed by a network of 466 Railway Mail Service Offices, and conveyed by road, rail and airlines all over the country.

Philately

The philatelic activities of India Post include:

• Designing, printing and distribution of special/commemorative postage stamps and other postage stamps/ service postage stamps.

• Items of postal stationery like Envelope, Inland Letter Card, Postcard, Aerogram and Registered Cover etc.

• Monitoring and promotion of Philately/conduct of philatelic exhibitions within the country, participation in international and world exhibitions.

• Management of the National Philatelic Museum, Dak Bhavan.

Business Development Activities

The Business Development Directorate was set up in 1996 to design, monitor, develop and market value added premium products of the Department. The Business Development Directorate is responsible for the operations and marketing of speed post, speed post passport service, business post, greeting post, express parcel post, media post, megdoot post card, data post, e-bill post, e-post, bill mail service and logistic post.

Financial services

The Post Office Savings Bank is the oldest and largest banking institution in the country. It operates about 140 Million Savings Accounts. The Post Office Savings Bank Scheme is an agency function performed by the Department of Posts on behalf of the Ministry of Finance, Government of India. The Ministry of Finance remunerates Department of Posts for this agency work at a rate fixed from time-to-time. During the last financial year 2003-04, the Department earned approximately Rs. 17,000 Millions as remuneration for discharging various responsibilities relating to the Savings Bank.

Post Office Savings Bank has a customer base of 140 Million account holders with annual deposits exceeding Rs. 9,70,000 Million. Savings Bank facilities are provided through a network of 1,54,000 Post Offices, which is double the size of all banks outlets in the country, put together. Eight products are retailed from the Post Offices across the country. There are also a number of Schemes covered under the Post Office Savings Bank and these include Savings Account Schemes, Recurring Deposit Schemes, Time Deposit Schemes, Monthly Income Schemes, Public Provident Fund Schemes, Kisan Vikas Patras, National Savings Certificates and the Senior Citizen Scheme 2004. The outstanding balance under all national savings schemes in Post Offices is over Rs. 3,750,000 Million.

New Products and Services introduced by Department of Posts

In recent years, the Department of Posts has tried to leverage its reach and remittance facility as well as the credibility it enjoys to diversify the range of financial products and services that the Department of Posts can offer to its customers. With the induction of technology and progressive computerization of the network, the Department’s capability to provide more value added services has increased. Details of some of the services being presently offered by the Department are given below :-

Mutual Funds & Bonds

The Mutual Funds industry has made rapid strides in the country, with assets worth nearly Rs. 1,550,000 Million this industry is under the management of various Assets Management Companies. India Post has entered into the business of retailing mutual funds through select offices. Since February, 2001, a growing network of over 250 Post Offices are distributing select Mutual Funds and Bonds (Principal/Prudential-ICICI/SBI/ICICI Capital/IDBI/RBI Bonds). Mutual Fund industry is a new growth area in financial services. Therefore, as a retailer, India Post is expected to gain a higher revenue share through commissions and trail commissions. Today the financial services portfolio of India Post has a large number of other relevant financial products like RBI India Relief Bonds, IDBI Flexi Bonds and ICICI Pension Fund, etc. The Department has also recently entered into a tie up with the UTI Asset Management Company Limited, which is the largest player in the Mutual Fund market in the country, to retail its five mutual fund schemes, on a pilot basis, from select Post Offices. Till date business worth over Rs. 50 Million has been retailed by the post office network. This service has helped to extend the reach of the capital market of the country and provides the common man easy access to market based investment options.

Electronic Fund Transfer

A facility for Electronic Fund Transfer was launched in October, 2001, leveraging the VSAT network of the Department to facilitate end-to-end fund transfers by Banks (UTI / IDBI / HDFC) on behalf of the corporate sector as well as the Capital Market. Banks use this facility to transfer funds to locations where they do not have a presence

Warrant Payment

The Warrant Payment Scheme was launched in January, 2002. It has facilitated redemption of over 73,000 dividend warrants of UTI and Citibank worth more than Rs. 1,000 Million through the postal network, establishing the ability of the Department to undertake this critical service, for the country’s Capital Market.

Electronic Clearance Service (ECS)

The Department of Posts has introduced Electronic Clearance Service (ECS), on a pilot basis, in Mumbai City from 9th August 2003 through 70 Post Offices. The Electronic Clearance Service is being offered in connection with payment of interest under the Monthly Income Scheme (MIS). The depositor can have the facility of automatically transferring interest from the MIS account and crediting it into the SB account at any designated bank electronically, by due date, through the RBI Clearing House. A nominal charge of Rs. 20/- per transaction is levied on the customers opting for this facility. As there is a growing demand from customers in different parts of the country, the Department proposes to extend the ECS scheme beyond Mumbai to 46 more cities where the RBI-EFT (Electronic Fund Transfer) facility is currently available.

International Money Transfer Service

This service provides customers the facility of receiving remittances from more than 196 countries on a real time basis. The service is currently available from more than 4500 post offices. Remittances in excess of US Dollars 125 Million have been delivered through this service since April 2001. It has brought in remittance worth 72 Million US Dollars from April 2003 to March 2004 and has generated a revenue of Rs.58.9 Million.

Electronic Fund Transfer

A facility for Electronic Fund Transfer was launched in October, 2001, leveraging the VSAT network of the Department to facilitate end-to-end fund transfers by Banks (UTI / IDBI / HDFC) on behalf of the corporate sector as well as the Capital Market. Banks use this facility to transfer funds to locations where they do not have a presence.

The focus of the Department’s initiatives in the area of financial services is to provide a bouquet of services that will cater to the needs of the customer, leveraging the retailing outreach of the network, so that the Post Office gradually becomes a one-stop shop for a range of such services.

Postal Life Insurance

Postal Life Insurance (PLI), introduced in 1884, is the oldest life insurance scheme for the benefit of Government employees. Initially meant only for the Postal employees, today it caters to employees of the civil and military personnel of the central and state governments, local bodies, government aided educational institutions, universities, nationalized banks, many autonomous and financial institutions, and public sector undertakings of the central and state governments. In a major innovation, Rural Postal Life Insurance (RPLI) scheme was also introduced in 1995 for the benefit of the entire rural populace.

TPLI offers the following types of policies:

(i) Whole Life Assurance (Suraksha)
(ii) Convertible Whole Life Assurance (Suvidha)
(iii) Endowment Assurance (Santosh)
(iv) Anticipated Endowment Assurance for 15 & 20 years (Sumangal)
(v) Joint Life Endowment Assurance (Yugal Suraksha)

Under RPLI, there are first four common plans and one additional plan “10 year RPLI”. Their trade names are as indicated below: -

(i) Whole Life Assurance (Gram Suraksha)
(ii) Convertible Whole Life Assurance (Gram Suvidha)
(iii) Endowment Assurance (Gram Santosh)
(iv) Anticipated Endowment Assurance for 15 & 20 years (Gram Sumangal)
(v) 10 year RPLI (Gram Priya)

An Extra Departmental Agents Group Insurance Scheme was introduced with effect from 01.04.1992 and a monthly subscription of Rupees 10/- is deducted from the salary of its beneficiaries. As on 31.03.2004 there were 2,57,695 members under this scheme. In the event of death of its beneficiary, an amount of Rupees 10,000/- is paid out of the insurance fund, in addition to accretion in the savings and the interest on it. On 31.03.04 the balance in this scheme was Rs. 530.1 Million.

International Relations

India Post is a member of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) which is a specialized agency of the United Nations Headquartered at Berne, Switzerland with 190 member countries. India is its member since 1876 and holds an important position in the various organs of the UPU viz. – Congress, Council of Administration, Postal Operations Council and International Bureau. India Post offers letter mail, parcel, money order and international speed post services to its customers.

Customer Care

India Post lays maximum stress on customer care in rendering its services and also to sort out the grievances that arise in the course of providing these services. Customers can lodge their complaints about our services at there nearby post office which are authorized to collect them. The complaints are consolidated at a customer care centre which registers these cases on the website to obtain a reply online for a final reply at the earliest. There are 1116 computerised customer care centers to handle public grievances online. The Department also provides the facility of online registration and response to complaints at its website

www.indiapost.gov.in .